Talks

From Pixels to Plastic

As the internet sensibility hits the stuff in our homes, our product world is undergoing a massive transformation. But what will we build? Matt Webb takes the lessons of the Web, social software, and interaction design, and spins up new products – new social stuff – for our connected and creative lives.

Longer abstract

Things of solid material and electronics are getting easier and cheaper to sculpt and manufacture. The maker culture shares its expertise in ever-broadening communities. Rapid prototyping machines and software are allowing small, agile companies to apply their iterative methodologies to physical objects. Stuff itself is getting smart and social, with emerging standard components for networking, and new paradigms for interaction. Even the business model is there: folks have been paying for plastic longer than pixels.

As the internet sensibility hits the stuff in our homes, our product world is undergoing a massive transformation. But once there, what will we build?

Matt Webb is a technology consultant and designer at Schulze & Webb. Through the lens of the magic inside all things, he takes the lessons of the Web, social software, and interaction design, and spins up new products – new social stuff – for our connected and creative lives.